Nutrition and physical activity counselling by general practitioners in Lithuania, 2000–2014

Abstract

Background Primary health care plays a crucial role in providing recommendations on a healthy diet and physical activity to assist patients in weight management. The study aimed to evaluate health behaviour counselling provided by general practitioners (GPs) for adults with overweight and obesity in Lithuania between 2000 and 2014. Methods Eight biennial postal surveys to independent nationally representative random samples of Lithuanians aged 20–64 were conducted. Response rates varied from 41.1 to 74%, with a decreasing trend over time. The data of 5867 participants who visited a GP at least once during the last year and had BMI of ≥25.0 kg/m 2 were analysed. Respondents were asked about GP advice on nutrition and physical activity and changes in their health behaviour during the last year. Results The proportion of persons with overweight who reported GP advice on nutrition increased from 23.6% in 2000 to 37.5% in 2010 and advice on physical activity from 11.9 to 17.2% respectively; however, later both proportions decreased slightly. The likelihood of reporting was higher in respondents with higher BMI, more chronic conditions and frequent contact with a GP. Respondents who were living in cities, older and highly educated women were all more likely to report being advised on physical activity. Men and women who received advice from a GP more often reported changes in health behaviour as compared with non-advised individuals. Conclusions Despite increasing trends, the rate of GP advice on nutrition and physical activity reported by patients with overweight and obesity remains low in Lithuania. GP advice appears to have a significant impact on attempts by patients to change behaviour related to weight control. Therefore, there is an obvious need to make additional efforts to increase the frequency of GP counselling and to identify and address barriers to advising patients with overweight.

Consulting Obese and Overweight Patients for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Primary Healthcare in Poland

“…However, this counseling was only offered sometimes, not with every routine visit to the GP. Our data do not differ from other studies which show that GPs do not counsel their overweight patients or provide a low level of counseling [21,[32][33][34][35][36].…”

The Association of Cardiometabolic Disease with Psychological Factors in Colombian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Likewise, it was found that 41.53% of the population with CD presented a BMI ≥ 30 despite the fact that 64.79% of the people with CD were physically active. These findings can be explained by changes in body composition that do not depend solely on the PA level but on other factors such as eating habits and genetics [ 64 ].…”

Nutritional Knowledge, Confidence, Attitudes towards Nutritional Care and Nutrition Counselling Practice among General Practitioners

“…Today’s imperative is that all health professionals should be competent to practise evidence-based nutritional counselling to at least a minimal extent [ 77 ], as even a basic advice might play an important role in changing health behaviour of a patient [ 78 ]. However, GPs are not always able to translate knowledge into practice and provide adequate nutritional advice, an advice that could possibly lead to significant changes in the patient’s diet [ 77 ].…”

“…Decline in nutritional counselling was also observed among GPs in the US studies for 1995–2007 [ 81 ] and 2005–2015 period [ 82 ]. A specific trend of nutrition counselling rates among Lithuanian GPs from 2000 to 2014 is [ 78 ]: counselling on nutritional habits was provided to 23% of the overweight/obese patients in 2000, to 37% in 2010, and then dropped to 30% in 2014. The observed trends show that the rate of provision and frequency of nutritional care in many countries is still suboptimal [ 11 , 78 , 81 , 82 ].…”

“…A specific trend of nutrition counselling rates among Lithuanian GPs from 2000 to 2014 is [ 78 ]: counselling on nutritional habits was provided to 23% of the overweight/obese patients in 2000, to 37% in 2010, and then dropped to 30% in 2014. The observed trends show that the rate of provision and frequency of nutritional care in many countries is still suboptimal [ 11 , 78 , 81 , 82 ]. In fact, it appears that the rates of nutritional counselling in the US continue to decrease from 1995 onwards, which might be caused by challenges and additional demands in everyday practice experienced by GPs (filling in electronic health records, managing the growing number of patients with chronic disease, fulfilling requirements for the overall improvement of quality of care), sometimes even leading them to frustration [ 81 ].…”